My Father's House Spiritual Retreat Center at 39 North Moodus Road, Moodus, CT 06469 US - Jesus Lives In Our Hearts

A New Nature

As the New Catechism of the Catholic Church states, "What faith confesses, the sacraments communicate; by the sacrament of rebirth, Christians have become "children of God"; and "participators of the divine nature" (2 Pet 1:4). This is such an awesome realization. God began the first order of creation with a man, Adam, and a woman, Eve. From them, our first parents, we received our human nature. As we all know, Adam and Eve sinned; and as a result of that sin, they gave the birthright of our human nature to Satan (cf Col 2:14). God, because He had given them free will, could not take this back. But what God did was to begin a new order of creation, this time with a new Eve, Mary and a new Adam, Jesus. From them we would get a new nature--God’s own nature, God’s own Spirit and God’s own Son living within us.

We are temples of God. We have three parts: an outer court, our bodies; an inner court, our souls with its faculties of thinking, willing and loving; and an inmost court, a sacred well--our spirits. It is in this inmost heart of man that the Spirit of God dwells as in the holy of holies. It is in the core of our beings that we are made into the image and likeness of God. Like Jesus, we have two natures: we have a human nature and we have a participation in the divine nature.

St. Thomas says that God became man so that we could become children of God. Had Adam and Eve never sinned, we would have been in heaven without the struggle. The order of creation then would have been God and then the angels and then us. Now, as adopted sons and daughters of God, we will be in heaven; but the order of creation will be God, then us and then the angels. An angel will always have an angelic nature, that is much, much higher than our human nature of itself. But we eternally shall have a participation in God’s own essence--in His nature. We shall be forever God’s own children. This is an awesome realization.

A New Dignity

The New Catechism states in paragraph 16:92, "Coming to see in the faith their new dignity (as partakers in the Divine nature), Christians are called to lead henceforth a life "worthy of the Gospel of Christ" (Phil 1:27). They are made capable of doing so by the grace of Christ and by the gifts of His spirit, which they receive through the sacraments and through prayer.

"Christians recognize your dignity and know that you share in God’s own nature. Do not return to your former base condition by sinning. Remember who is your head and of whose body you are a member. Never forget that you have been rescued from the power of darkness and brought into the light of the kingdom of God" (St. Leo the Great, Sermon 21, 2:pl 54,192c).

A New Identity

Because we have a new nature and a new dignity, we have a new identity. Pope John Paul II frequently states that Jesus Christ reveals man and woman to themselves. In other words, without Christ, we do not know who we are. Most people think that they are simply human beings. In so doing, they miss the whole meaning of Christianity, the whole essence of their baptism, the whole identity of grace and the new life, the whole significance of the incarnation, the whole purpose of baptism, confirmation and the Eucharist.

The truth of the matter is that we are not simply human beings; we are temples of God’s Spirit. We are other Christs. We are children of God made into His own image and likeness by grace. That is who we really are. So if I were to ask you, ‘who are you,’ and you were to answer simply, ‘Mary Smith’, you would miss the whole point of your Christian existence. For in you now there is so much more than meets the eye. You can say with St. Paul, "I live now, not I but Jesus Christ lives within me" (Gal 2:20).

A New Image of Self

Because we have a new identity, we obviously have a new self-image. This is so important for us to realize because psychologically speaking, it is not possible for anyone outside of this graced dimension to have a good self-image. In other words, it is not possible for anyone on any particular day to wake up on a given morning, look into a mirror and say, "Wow, you are so perfect, so wonderful. You are okay." For in reality, our human nature is too flawed, too broken, too prone to selfishness and sin. What is possible, however, is for us to look into that mirror and see with the new eyes of faith that although we are not okay, Christ lives within us. We are fellow sharers with Him in a new nature, a graced nature, a Christian nature. We are with Him, sons and daughters of the Father, and that is what gives us a new self-image.

A New Covenant

Because Christ reigns in our hearts beginning with our baptism, we are participants in the new and eternal covenant that Jesus has made with mankind. When God the Father, through Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David and Ezrah cut a blood covenant with mankind, He renewed it in a new and eternal covenant through Jesus His Son. The essence of this covenant is, "I will be your God and you will be my people." If we surrender to God all that we are and all that we have, God will give to us all that He is and all that He has. "I will be your God and you will be my people." We are, therefore, made joint heirs with Christ of all the blessings, graces and gifts of the Father.

A New Family

What God is doing upon earth is creating family His way. When you and I were born, we were placed in a natural family at our birth. We were placed in a set of relationships, wherein we were mothered and fathered, and brothered and sistered, and aunted and uncled, grandmothered and grandfathered. When we received the new birth at baptism, God became our Father, Mary became our mother and we all became brothers and sisters in the Lord. We are now members of God’s Family forever. When God said, "let us make man and woman into our image and likeness," He made us to be participators in his family; for the God we worship as Christians is a family--the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit deferring to one another, loving one another, delighting in one another as members of one Divine Family.

A New Mother

In the Family of God, not only is God our Father but Mary is our mother. The mother of Jesus, Mary, is the mother of the Mystical Body of Christ--His Church. Mary is the mother of the new family of God; and we, as her children, can go to her, as our mother, knowing that it was never known that anyone who has fled to her protection or sought her intercession was left unaided.

A New Spirit

God promised through Ezekiel that He would place a new spirit, God’s own Holy Spirit within us. We, who have been baptized, have received the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the source of this new life of God within us, enabling us to think, love and act like children of God.

A New Mind

Because Jesus, by His Spirit, lives within us, we are given, as St. Paul says in 1 Cor:1, "the Mind of Christ." He prays, "let this mind be in you which was also in Jesus Christ our Lord" (Phil 2:5). "We have the mind of Christ" (1Cor 2:16). No longer do we have to think as human nature impels us to think--carnal thoughts, worldly thoughts, bitter, angry and lustful thoughts. Now we can think with the inspired thoughts of Christ, Himself. Through meditation and prayer, we can begin to think loving thoughts, peaceful thoughts, kind thoughts, pure thoughts, and holy thoughts because by His Spirit, which enlightens our mind, we can have the very mindset of Christ Himself.

A New Relationship With Jesus

Because Christ lives in our hearts, we can have a new relationship with Jesus. We can have what is called, a personal relationship with Jesus. We can come to know and love Him in a personal way. We can come to experience that He speaks to us, that He heals us, that He helps us, that He is with us. We can come to know that He is not simply a God way up there in the sky or way back there in the Bible, but that He is our personal friend who lives in our hearts, who says come to me and allow me to speak, to forgive, to love, to guide, to unite, to empower and to direct you.

A New Hearing

Because Jesus lives in our hearts, we can have new ears to hear the voice of God. God speaks to all of his Children all of the time, externally and internally. He speaks externally through creation, signs, symbols, the Bible, people, the pope, the bishops, the priests, the circumstances of our lives, etc. Interiorally, He speaks most often through our thoughts--through our deepest intuitions, sometimes through a dream and sometimes through a vision. The most often repeated theme of the Bible is that God talks to us. Therefore, prayer is not simply talking to God, but also it is becoming still to allow God to speak to us. Prayer is a two-way street, talking and listening to God. Our prayer should always be, "Speak Lord, your servant is listening." And God’s voice most often sounds like the thoughts that bubble up into your mind during prayer.

A New Heart

Because Jesus lives in your heart, we have obviously a new heart--that is, a new capacity to love as He loves. We no longer need to love as our human nature impels us to love with a vested interested, self-serving and carnal love. We now can love with the length, the breadth, the height and the depth of the very love of God, which is called in the Scripture, agape love. The height of this love is that it comes from God and is inspired by His Spirit. Therefore, it is something that we have to pray for, be open to and be inspired by. It is a gift-- the greatest of all the gifts and the fruits of the Spirit.

God is love and God reigns in our hearts by His Spirit of Love. This love we receive by surrendering ourselves totally to Him and by praying sincerely for it. This Divine Love in our hearts is patient, understanding, and pure. It keeps no record of wrongs and is willing to forgive all injuries and to overlook all hurts. It is unconditional and affirming. This love of God has a depth in that it loves the unlovable, forgives the unforgivable, reaches the unreachable, touches the untouchable. This love has a breadth in that it loves all men and all women of all nations, nationalities, races and religions. It has a length in that it does not stop loving. That is, it is eternal. It does not give up on people for it is God’s own love within us.

A New Power

Because Jesus lives in our hearts, we have a new power. We have a power that comes down from heaven called the Holy Spirit, and by this power, we can do supernatural things. We can heal in His Name and perform miracles by His Spirit. We can influence one another gracefully and supernaturally. We can do the works of Jesus and other new works greater by far than His. We can reach out to the poor, the lonely the disadvantaged, and the homeless and give them new life and new hope. We can invite them into a new kingdom.

A New Kingdom

Because Jesus lives in our hearts, we can now live in a new kingdom. We no longer need to live in a kingdom of this world---the kingdom of selfishness, darkness and sin. But by His Spirit, we can live in the kingdom of God thinking as He thinks, loving as He loves, acting as He acts. For this kingdom of God, beginning at our baptism, is now within us. It is God’s own life within.

A New Hope

Because Jesus lives our hearts, as we look forward to the new millennium, we have a new hope. Although the world seems to be falling apart, we know by faith that Jesus is the Lord of history; and that in the final analysis, Mary and Jesus will crush the head of Satan and destroy the forces of darkness. In them is our hope.

A New Mission

Because Jesus lives in our hearts, we have a new mission--to live our lives to the glory of God and to continue across our time and space His redeeming, healing, sanctifying and evangelizing work. We are to be His body, His hands, His eyes, His heart, His lips, His feet. We are to allow Jesus to live and work within us by His wisdom, love and power. We are to ask Him to speak through our lips, to see through our eyes, to love through our hearts, to love through our hands. We are, in union with Him, to build up the kingdom of God here on earth His way and by His power.

A New Destiny

Because Jesus lives in our hearts, we have a new destiny. Not only shall we be forever with Him in heaven, but we shall be drawn right into the Godhead itself, participating in the very essence and nature of God for all eternity, sharing God’s own joy, God’s own life, God’s own peace forever.

A New Glory

Since the glory of God is made fully alike in Him, we shall with unveiled faces reflect like mirrors the brightness of the Son of God who is our glory. For it is the work of the Spirit to transform us from glory into glory, into Jesus whom we reflect (cf 2 Cor 3:18). As St. John tells us, we are God’s children now. What we shall be later has not come to light. But this much we do know, when it comes to light we shall be like him. For we shall see Him as He is. What a glorious destiny to be forever in God together.

O Christians, behold your dignity. You are children of God, other Christs, participants in the Divine nature forever.